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As an active community member, I read almost every article in the La Conner Weekly News, usually by early Wednesday afternoon, so I typically find things about which to write. Sometimes I just sit and let the soup simmer, see if it needs some seasoning, maybe some seasoned reasoning should come to bare. I found the town council’s priorities (“La Conner council sets priorities at retreat,” July 3) very interesting. One member of the council brought up the importance of community involvement, another stressed volunteerism, communication and s...
The La Conner tourist economy may be back on track. The June sales tax revenues of $58,778 reported to town council by the state’s Department of Revenue, are the second highest total for the month, only below 2022’s record. It is 10.6% above last June’s. This is April’s tax collection, the month of the Tulip Festival. The Special Use Fire Tax revenues, at $5,870 is 10.8% above last year’s and also the second best June. For the first half of 2023, sales tax revenues are at 44.8% of the year’s projected total while the fire truck tax is at 54.2%...
La Conner's underground – at least on S. Maple Avenue – has been in plain sight the past few days. Welch Brothers Construction has cut deeply into and through the heavily traveled roadway's surface to extend a water main that will serve the future Didgwalic Wellness Center transitional housing and staff office facility on Maple Avenue near the east approach to the Rainbow Bridge. La Conner Public Works Director Brian Lease said on Monday that the work upgrades an existing water main to imp...
Town and school district officials were in full retreat June 24, though both panels spent the day charging forward with reviews of their respective five-year strategic plans. The La Conner Town Council met for seven hours at the Waterfront Café. Councilmembers, staff and Mayor Marna Hanneman addressed five focus areas – public safety, climate and environmental sustainability, capital projects and utilities, economic vibrancy and governmental organization. Council members and department heads al...
The first round of drafting a new housing element for La Conner’s comprehensive plan is in the books, but more chapters await. The town’s planning commission last week granted preliminary approval of the comp plan element, which addresses housing capacity and population projections for the town issued by the Skagit Council of Governments in accordance with the state Growth Management Act. Final approval requires further review and public input, said Town Assistant Planner Ajah Eills, who has compiled a detailed land use capacity analysis for...
A public memorial service for Susan Baum, who worked at La Conner’s iconic 1890s Inn during a colorful chapter in the town’s history, will be held from 5-7 p.m. Sunday, June 30, at Conner Waterfront Park. Baum, fondly known to her friends as “Cruisin’ Susan,” died May 7. Having grown up in Big Sky Country, she blended seamlessly after her arrival here into the local arts community and eclectic counterculture movement that evolved in the 1970s in La Conner and at nearby Fishtown on the Skagit River. Baum embraced a non-traditional lifestyle t...
Conner Waterfront Park, perhaps best known for its signature salmon slide, now has a new landmark to showcase. The ribbon was cut Friday to dedicate a long-planned pavilion at the popular shoreline park. Town Public Works Department staff had worked on the pavilion's construction since December, as time permitted. "This is another piece of the puzzle put together," said local landscape architect Curt Miller, among a crowd of over 40 on hand for the ceremony. Mayor Marna Hanneman, Town Parks...
Town officials are guardedly optimistic that La Conner can weather a spring sales tax revenue slump. Citing wet, chilly weather as a possible factor, Mayor Marna Hanneman shared with town council at its June 11 meeting that La Conner’s total tax receipts are down $17,000 from this time last year. Reported town tax receipts totaled $230,770 through May 2023, compared to $213,974 through May 2024. “The weather’s not helping, but I believe people are coming to town,” said Hanneman. “They’re just not spending money.” May’s receipts of $46,949 are...
The best kept secret in La Conner, eight months in the making, was fueled by an appreciation for vintage cars. Jason Coughlin waved the checkered flag on a deeply personal covert mission with a classic Father's Day weekend surprise gift at Friday's annual La Conner Retirement Inn Invitational Car Show on N. First Street. From his childhood, Coughlin knew that his dad, Jim Coughlin, had always wanted a restored Chevrolet Chevelle. The younger Coughlin made that dream come true in dramatic...
NOT TO BE MISSED Shelter Bay Annual Garage Sale. With more than 100 participating homes, you can find bargains around every corner! Shelter Bay Chorus bake sale, coffee and hot dogs at the Clubhouse. 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday, June 22. LIBRARIES La Conner Swinomish Library. 520 Morris St., La Conner. 360-466-3352. www.lclib.lib.wa.us. Open 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday-Friday, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday. Storytime for Children. 11 a.m. Fridays. Tech Help. 3-5 p.m. Mondays. Dungeons & Dragons Club. 3-5 p.m. Tuesdays. No experience necessary. Mount Vernon...
June 20, 2024 -- The La Conner Town Council will hold a special meeting Monday, June 24 that will consist of a council retreat from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. The retreat, at the Waterfront Café, is open to the public staff reported at the June 18 council meeting.. Mayor Marna Hanneman called the meeting today, Thursday, June 20. The June 25 town council meeting is canceled. The Town of La Conner posted its Notice of Cancelation at the same time today. Information: 360-466-3125, https://w...
The $46,949 reported in sales tax revenues to the La Conner Town Council in May by the state's Department of Revenue is the second highest 2024 monthly total, but below 2023's May collection by $1,123, 2.3%. The special use fire tax revenues were similarly down, 4.2% below May 2023, now $4,594. Hotel/motel tax collection was $11,740, 7.6% behind 2023's record May total, but also the second highest 2024 month. The May totals represent March collections and are typically the last low, pre-tourist...
In terms of solving a longtime housing shortage here, the town is being asked to make the impossible possible. It will take about 20 years to tell if La Conner is successful. Town Planning Commission chair Bruce Bradburn had some gripes when reviewing state and county mandates that La Conner prepare to add 124 new housing units – one-third of which would serve low-income residents – between now and 2045. Bradburn called that a “pipe dream.” “It’s fine to say we have a goal to provide more family housing in town,” he said. Town Assistant Pla...
La Conner leaders saw a shining example of solar power's potential during a two-hour tour of a state-of-the-art production plant in Burlington Thursday morning. Mayor Marna Hanneman, town councilor Mary Wohleb and resident Terry Nelson, who along with Wohleb is a founding member of the Skagit Valley Clean Energy Cooperative, met with Silfab Solar officials inside the firm's 220,000-square-foot automated facility where residential and commercial solar panels are manufactured for a growing...
There’s no such thing as a free lunch, even when grant monies are in hand. Town officials last week addressed the hidden and incidental costs linked to grant funding by adopting a new policy designed to assess which awards are most feasible to pursue and cost effective to administer. “Grants take an awful lot of time to apply for and to maintain when we get them,” Town Administrator Scott Thomas said. He told the town council at its May 28 meeting that he wants to develop a policy to determine which potential grant awards best fit La Conne...
The Town of La Conner seeks consultants to create a master plan, the first step for development of the 3-acre industrial area west and south of its S. Third Street parking lot below the town hall to Caledonia Street. It posted a request for qualifications May 22, with a June 18 submittal deadline. The RFQ timeline lists town council review and approval for July 23 and signing the contract July 25, eight weeks from now. The plan completion deadline is Dec. 31, 2024. Funding is from a $30,000 state of Washington Community Development Block Grant...
The La Conner Town Council last week chose to forego the path of least resistance when dealing with future downtown traffic flow and parking. Rather than table action and extend discussion of options for S. First Street, council members voted 4-0 during their May 14 meeting at Maple Hall to convert the historic and narrow route along the town’s popular waterfront to single lane one-way traffic with parking on both sides. Councilor Ivan Carlson was absent. Town Planner Michael Davolio suggested the change go into effect this fall, which would g...
A Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife biologist will look to maintain the chemistry enjoyed by the Town's Emergency Management Commission since its inception in 2023. Three-year town resident Jonah Keith was confirmed last week by the La Conner Town Council to fill a commission vacancy created by the death of Duane Carpenter, who had been the advisory panel's chief meteorologist. Keith brings to the board not only his extensive background in science and marine biology, but also the...
There are several directions town council members can take when it comes to future traffic flow and parking schemes on South First Street. The La Conner governing panel was scheduled last night to hear separate recommendations from its planning staff and planning commission for options for downtown traffic and parking as part of an ongoing update of the transportation element of the town’s Comprehensive Plan. Planner Michael Davolio and Assistant Planner Ajah Eills have proposed South First Street be converted to one-way southbound traffic w...
Bounce back. The $42,671 reported in sales tax revenue to the La Conner Town Council in April by the state’s Department of Revenue is the second highest ever for the month, behind 2022’s record $44,210. It topped March by $8,741. These are February sales: the state Department of Revenue reports on a two-month lag. Hotel/motel April tax collection was $10,165, 4% behind 2023’s record total but significantly higher, by 48%, than March’s report. Similarly, the $4,255 in special-use fire tax revenue was $141 below the record 2022 collect...
NOT TO BE MISSED Paths to Understanding presents The Let’s Go Together Partnership! 7 p.m. Thursday, May 16, Lincoln Theatre, Mount Vernon. Event is free. Walk-ins welcome. Join in the first public gathering for an evening of storytelling, music and conversation focused on strengthening our Skagit community. All, including community leaders, will speak about the importance of lifting up our common humanity. Come and join us to meet people from across the county and stand together to go into a brighter future. Let’s go together! More info: pa...
Last Saturday some 13 people – mostly La Conner residents, along with Channel Drive and Pull and Be Damned neighbors and the Home Trust of Skagit executive director – met Mayor Marna Hanneman at the La Conner Swinomish Library for her monthly community check-in. There were mostly familiar faces around the conference room table. These residents have attended Hanneman’s earlier library gatherings, as many of them joined in town-organized community mingles on short-term rentals, First Street parking and the town-acquired Jenson property. That...
Turnout was low but engagement high at a one-hour community mingle April 25 addressing possible future uses of the Jenson property. About two dozen people gathered at the Civic Garden Club to suggest how the town could best use the half-acre field on La Conner's south end, acquired in 2022 for $60,000, about one-third its assessed value. Participants reviewed maps of the property, a fact sheet and an informational pamphlet provided by La Conner artist Maggie Wilder outlining features that would...
Town Administrator Scott Thomas is known for his occasional use of dry humor, but there wasn’t anything funny about his report to Town Council members last week regarding drought conditions this year. “We’re already in a state of drought,” Thomas told the council during its April 23 meeting at Maple Hall. “So, we may be looking at water restrictions down the road.” Thomas reported that Washington’s snowpack, based on state Department of Ecology statistics, stands at just 68% of its average levels. “With chances for significant additions to the...
SUPERIOR COURT OF WASHINGTON FOR SKAGIT COUNTY No. 24-4-00189-29 PROBATE NOTICE TO CREDITORS (RCW 11.40.030) In the Matter of the Estate of Lyle R. Wesen, Deceased The co-personal representatives named below have been appointed as co-personal representatives of this estate. Any person having claim against the decedent must, before the time the claim would be barred by any otherwise applicable statute of limitations, present the claim in the manner as provided in RCW 11.40.070 by serving on or mailing to the co-personal representatives or the...
